𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐥𝐚 𝐫𝐮𝐞

𝐬𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

The metal reached up her body. She stayed frozen, smiling softly at her sister while she cried.

Percy stared at her, wishing it were him. It should have been him. It was going to be him until she pushed him away.

"Don't worry" she whispered, still smiling. It travelled up her neck. She was so calm.

She needed to be calm for them. She needed to prove that she was alright. She would be fine.

She felt it hug her face, covering every inch of her in gold.

And it was over.

Birdie's eyes opened as she heard the sirens wailing. She was sitting in the back of an Ambulance, being held by Annabeth. Birdie pressed her hand on the scars, feeling stitches instead of bleeding. She was fine. She was also confused on how they managed to do that without waking her up. "Are you okay?" Annabeth asked quietly, noticing her big sister awake "mhm" Birdie nodded.

"Come on" Annabeth assisted getting her to stand up, walking back to Grover. Chaos was around them. Officers turned to them as they talked to witnesses. "They're looking at us" Grover mumbled, Birdie looked around and felt drawn away. She stayed. "Yeah" Annabeth responded "so, we should probably get outta here, don't you think? Dude, they're looking right at us" a pull tugged at Birdie.

Words were left unheard, she stared out to the way she was being pulled.

Once she saw Annabeth and Grover walk, she followed.

"Percy!"

"Percy!"

They walked along a dock near the river, Birdie rushing in front and hurrying forward.

Birdie stopped and turned, the others doing the same. They saw the blonde boy drenched in water climb over the rail. He gave a small wave "hi."

Birdie quickly ran to him, pulling him into a tight hug. She pulled away after a few seconds and stepped back as Grover and Annabeth walked forward.

"Look, I'm sorry about shoving you in the stairwell. Even hearing myself say that sounds really bad, but I just-- I knew you'd never agree, and there wasn't enough time--" Annabeth put her arms around him.

That hug lasted much longer than the one Birdie gave him.

There was an awkward air around them. "So.. you're not as dead as we thought you'd be" Grover said as Annabeth realised what she was doing, taking a step back "surprise" Percy replied "what happened?" "short version, we need to go to Santa Monica" "what, like now?" Grover asked, Birdie was ready to go anywhere. It didn't matter. She would do anything to keep these three safe.

"My father's gonna meet me there. He's gonna help us" "okay. Uh, just one problem with this plan. The police think that we crashed an Amtrak train and then did that" Grover said, signalling to the burning arch "th-- the cops are after us?" Percy asked "yeah" "isn't that gonna make it hard for us to get on a train? Or a bus? Or really anything you need tickets for?"

₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

"Hey, guys," Percy said as they walked along the road "I think this quest might be harder than we thought. I've been thinking. I didn't steal the master bolt. You guys didn't steal the master bolt. We're pretty sure Hades has the master bolt, but he couldn't have stolen it himself. I mean, we don't even know who actually stole the thing, or why, or how deep this goes," everyone shared looks "I'm the last person to realise this, aren't I?" Birdie smiled and patted him on the back.

"Yeah" Annabeth answered, Percy sighed "okay, so.. maybe when we started, my head wasn't fully in this, but since the river.. it all feels different somehow. He saved me. My dad. I guess I just really never thought that's something he'd do for me. So maybe I gotta take things more seriously now."

Grover looked back "car" "that's not a car, it's a bike. Just let it pass. Come on" Annabeth said. The four ducked down behind the small cement wall "I'm saying, we're not just trying to retrieve a thing. I think we might need to be detectives here, too" "yeah."

"Why are you being weird with me again? I thought we weren't doing that anymore" "I'm not being weird" "yes, you are. You've been weird since we left the arch," Birdie looked at her sister as Percy continued "oh.. I get it. It doesn't have to be a thing, you know. That you hugged me" "oh boy" Annabeth sighed "I mean, we're like friends now. That seems like a thing friends do. At least I think they do" "I saw the Fates. Back at the arch, I saw the Three Fates, and I saw Atropos cut a piece of thread" Annabeth said.

"And that's bad or..?" "the Fates weave the life strand of every living thing. When you see a string cut--" "one of us will die" Birdie finished. "We're all gonna die eventually" Percy replied "soon," Annabeth said "it's a warning. An omen" "okay. Guys, we need to talk about this whole fate thing. Three old ladies with a ball of yarn can't know what's gonna happen. What I choose to do changes what's gonna happen, and I can choose to do anything I.. want."

"Need some help?"

They all turned on their knees and looked up at the man on the motorbike. "Beg pardon?" Grover asked "I asked if you could use some help" the man responded "nope. No. We're-- we're good. Appreciate you asking, though. So long" Grover said, they all went back down.

"You don't seem too good" Annabeth popped her head back up "we don't want anything from you" she then went down again. "You sure? Because you guys are so behind schedule" the man said, laughing. Everyone stood up.

"I mean, summer solstice is just a few days away. And as much as I'd love to see a good war pop off, as your big cousin, I feel like, maybe, I wanna give you a hand" "cousin?" Percy questioned "Ares" Annabeth and Birdie said at the same time, Annabeth looking at Percy, Birdie remained looking at the man. "You must be Athena's kids. Always gotta be the wisest ones in the bunch" "she's the wisest, I'm just-- I'm just me" Birdie responded, shaking her head.

"Why would you help us? How do you even know about what we're doing out here?" Annabeth asked "because I'm doing exactly the same thing as you. Zeus sent all of his kids out looking for the master bolt, too. Listen, dummies. I'm hungry. There's a halfway decent diner up the road. If you want my help, you'll meet me there. But don't dawdle. Won't wait forever."

Ares put on sunglasses and rode off. "Well, he's definitely Clarisse's father" Birdie nodded, watching him travel down the road "that's my cousin? What kind of family is this?" Percy said "come on" Annabeth said, starting to walk.

They came to a diner, they weren't sure if it was the right one but it was their only idea. "Can I stay out here?" Birdie asked as they moved closer to the door "what? Why?" Percy asked back, turning to her "quiet time" she answered. Annabeth sighed and nodded "okay. Just.. stay here and we'll be back. If you need us, we're in there" she said, Birdie smiled "okay."

Grover, Percy, and Annabeth entered the diner, Birdie sat down against the wall.

She was just fine by herself. She always was. Unless there was danger or she was scared, which was most of the time. But, this time she wasn't. She was perfectly fine.